The Global M4 Caltrans Test

The Global M4 series sweeper is one of the only that has ever passed the formidable California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) sweeper acceptance test where it was required to sweep up heavy sand at the rate of 3 tons per minute! That's one ton of sand every twenty seconds! That's a lot of sand. That's why Caltrans now owns a fleet of more than 150 Global- M4 sweepers.

In 1990, the California Department of Transportation introduced what is now known in the sweeper industry as the toughest sweeper performance test in North America. The purpose of the test was to allow Caltrans a means of selecting only those sweepers that were tough and reliable enough to meet the brutal demands of sweeping more than 16,000 miles of the most diverse highways in the world—stretching to California's borders with Oregon, Nevada, Arizona and Mexico. The machines that passed the test were put into service, sweeping the winding High Sierras, performing post winter clean up and cleaning the wind blown desert roads and highways throughout the entire state.

Caltrans staff conducted the test like this:

15% moistened sand was spread over a chosen test site, to a maximum depth of 1 1/2."

Sufficient sand to cover a 100 ft. long track was spread so that one full hopper load could be swept up in a single continuous pass.

The sweeper was required to take five separate tests and comply with the following requirements each time:

Sweep a width of not less than ten feet with both gutter brooms operating.

Pick up not less than 90% of all sand from the swept path.

Fill the hopper with a minimum of three cubic yards.

e randomly stopped twice, all sweep gear switched off, be re-started and continue with no stalling or jamming of brooms or conveyor system at any time.

Global-Allianz sweepers were the only street sweepers ever to pass this test — each and every time!